17:50 - RYAN BRANDEIS-WHITE - THE ENGINE ROOM

[◊◊BLOODBEASTER◊◊]

Seemed you were being left quite alone; no sound of descending footsteps

from above. Must be waiting for you to get inside before they begin the

procession. You got the other recorder going, and struggled to get the giant

door open. You were an athletic guy, and it was still more effort than you'd

prefer. You got inside and the thing slammed shut behind you with a wet suck.

You were standing in a dark corridor, no doors in sight. You had to take three

steps down into ankle-deep water. Rainbows of oil glimmered under your

flashlight beam. Hope you can recoup the dry cleaning costs...

There were no signs of the detectives or any of the rest of the expedition ahead

of you. Should be like five other people in there at least. Weren't they making

a big deal about limiting how many people went because of the cramped space?

[Dr. Maneep Pamplemousse]

Ryan--
"Motherfuckers!"

Nobody said this was going require goddamned hip waders. These are not just my best shoes, these are the shoes that senior partners and clients look at with envy. But if I took my shoes off, I'd probably end up with a fucking nail in my foot. And taking this to small claims court would just undermine my reputation more. It might as well been a fucking conspiracy as effectively as the police and my client had fucked me.

[◊◊BLOODBEASTER◊◊]

There was little sense of actually being in a boat here. The ground vibrated

slightly, sending little ripples through the brackish water, but not the

side-to-side sway you'd expect, especially this far down. The corridor led on

into the darkness, your flashlight unable to reach fully into it.

[Dr. Maneep Pamplemousse]

There was little to gain by continuing on, unless they found the body. I guess that's something to hope for. I picked up my pace as I headed down the hallway. Maybe I could see the look on Butcher's face when they found it.

[◊◊BLOODBEASTER◊◊]

When you came to the end of the hall, you'd have to roll your eyes. A big display

was set up, like something out of the Price is Right. A big sign with a set of three

oversized, cartoonish buttons. Behind it were three doors painted with corny

gold paint. None of them had any handles. The sign was painted in garish

red and gold.

CHOOSE YOUR FAVORITE SIN!

The three buttons were labeled LUST, GLUTTONY, and WRATH.

Hey where was sloth?

[Dr. Maneep Pamplemousse]

Ha! Mills was a comic genius. All this crazy act and he walked us all into a giant prank. I hope he had hidden cameras I pressed the button marked "wrath".

[◊◊BLOODBEASTER◊◊]

Even though the button felt dollar-store flimsy, one of the doors instantly popped

with a heavy clunk, and parted slowly. Inside you saw the bright glow of a

green screen, a single camera sitting on a tripod, aimed at a a folding table

and chair.

Inside the room, you would find three wooden boxes on the table, and a hammer.

The boxes are identical little cubes, formed out of thin balsa wood. They have

no hinges or lids, and it doesn't seem possible to open them by hand. There is

something inside all of them-- different weights, but all of them fairly light.

Each of them have a tidy little index card in front of them.

I am
FRAGILE


I am
PRECIOUS


I am
DELICATE

Were you to sit on the folding chair, you'd be facing the tripod, the green screen to

your back. The camera's red light is on, recording away.

[Dr. Maneep Pamplemousse]

Well, this was boring.
I was hoping for carnival funhouse but with real bodies. . I walked over to see what the camera was set up to do. Was it a wireless streaming thing or a cable or just recording video internally on some sort of media.

[◊◊BLOODBEASTER◊◊]

It was recording onto a mini DV, pretty antiquated. Camera probably dated

from 2004-ish, so getting a bit on its years. Battery was at 3 out of 5 bars,

auto focus enabled and the white balance was kind of off. Behind the camera

was a mounted light and a big hoop light reflector. A little nicer than you'd

find in a high school news room, but not as good as even a local network.

The floor was remarkably dry-- smooth but unfinished plywood. If you looked

back into the corridor, you saw the same thing as you had-- five inches of

water and pitch dark.

[Dr. Maneep Pamplemousse]

Well, this was just boring. I was hoping for Joe Butcher, on his knees, weeping uncontrollably while hard boiled Colleen Colt tried desperately to distract him from his own caricature, formed from the spilled intestines of the rotting Williams boy. Kenny? No, it was William... something else. Whatever his name was ... I turned the camera off. My image was everything.

[◊◊BLOODBEASTER◊◊]

Click-- the Camera shut off.

Something moved gently inside of one of the boxes.

[Dr. Maneep Pamplemousse]

I took the tape out of the camera and pocketed it. Might have useful evidence on it. I eyed the boxes and picked up the hammer. Let's see what's in the box. I smashed it without hesitation in a single, long swing.

[◊◊BLOODBEASTER◊◊]

Your hammer struck the box marked

I am
PRECIOUS

The wood shattered like it was made out of corn chips, collapsing in on itself

so easily. Something inside shattered -- glass sparkled on the table. If you

carefully picked apart the box, you found a ring, that had once been inside a

glass case. The ring was undamaged-- an antique gold setting with a red stone.

There was some kind of odd carving on the interior of the ring, like little ridges.

Seemed like it would fit you.

[◊◊BLOODBEASTER◊◊]

Dr. Maneep Pamplemousse - moved this to a new thread

[Dr. Maneep Pamplemousse]

I don't know what Mills' plan is, but I'm not playing his game. Curious though. I take the hammer to the other boxes.